Chapter 165 - Simple Conclusion

A little over an hour later, Xiang and Yuzu left the market district. Xiang was carrying the twelve year old girl nicknamed Rabbit, who was bundled up in a heavy cloak.

Yuzu didn’t need to look at the strings to know that she was in the mid stages of Devil Eyes infection. She had a heavy fever and had a hard time staying awake. Despite the sweat on her brow and the warmth of the noon sun overhead, she shivered constantly.

Yuzu felt a pang of sympathy for the girl, but she resisted the urge to help her just yet. After all, the White Maiden was supposed to help those that prayed to her at her shrine.

Throughout the morning Yuzu had received numerous prayers from people at her shrine. Whenever she had a moment she would close her eyes and provide a little assistance, curing the people who were most in need.

However one important fact that Yuzu took note of was that she only received prayers from the vicinity of the shrine. In other words, that shrine acted like an amplifier, allowing prayers from far away to reach Yuzu.

From what she’d overheard, Yuzu knew that the current lore of the White Maiden stated that a person needed to be at the shrine for her to hear their prayers. Healing Rabbit here and now would set a bad precedent.

Yuzu carefully examined Rabbit’s string, confirming that the girl wouldn’t perish within the next few hours. Once they reached the shrine, Yuzu could cure her.

“You should be friendlier.” Xiang said, out of the blue.

“I am friendly.” Yuzu replied, frowning.

“You didn’t even compliment Spider’s soup when you tried it. I thought you had better manners than that.” Xiang rebutted, “People will like you more if you’re kinder to them, you know.”

“I’m not going to pretend to be someone I’m not just to make people like me.” Yuzu sighed loudly, not hiding the annoyance in her voice, “And anyways, people like me just fine. Just because I don’t happily greet people and laugh at their bad jokes like you do doesn’t mean I’m being unfriendly.”

“Even still, you can be friendlier.” Xiang said.

As they walked down the road the number of uniformed officers grew more numerous. They passed by a number of carts with police emblems that were parked on the side of the road as the massive columned structure of the Police Force headquarters loomed over them.

Xiang had continued to lecture her, but Yuzu paid him little mind as she focused on the tapestry of fate around the station. Thousands of strings formed a rich golden fabric that was interwoven with the occasional white and silver strings.

She sifted through the threads, gathering them in bunches with her fingers as she looked for her Zwei. The sudden disappearance of his strings from the house worried her. The recollection of his strange behaviour the night before, and even before that, his anxiety at the time he had visited her room, started to suggest that something really wasn’t right with him.

A crease of worry formed on Yuzu’s forehead as she couldn’t find Zwei’s string anywhere around the station.

“You really want to see Zwei today for some reason.” Xiang commented.

“Um- Yeah.” Yuzu blinked, suddenly realizing that she had been standing in front of the station for several minutes without moving. Xiang hadn’t questioned her choice to wander by the police station, or interrupted her as she stood deep in thought.

“Well, why don’t we go inside and see if he’s in?”

Heading inside, they found an information desk and asked about Zwei. After being directed several times, they could only find out that Zwei had last been seen yesterday, and that the details of his assignment weren’t available for members of the public. Throughout the entire search Yuzu couldn’t find any trace of his string.

“Guess he’s out on the streets.” Xiang shrugged, “We’ll probably see him after he’s finished work tonight.”

Yuzu could only frown and nod, hiding the extent of her concern.

They left the station and continued down the street. After a few more blocks they arrived at the large plaza in front of the Tye Ann Cathedral. They scanned the area, looking for the carts headed for the shrine.

“We didn’t miss it, right?” Xiang frowned as he looked across the crowded square.

“It’ll come soon.” Yuzu said.

Her spiritual intuition had already started to ring out as the illusory whispers of prayers floated through the air. Various golden strings lit up as they approached her from the far side of the plaza.

These were the prayers of people in the caravan. Several of them had already begun to pray quietly to the White Maiden even before they’d set out to the shrine.

In addition to the golden strings, there were several silver strings in the group. Yuzu quietly held her hands over the strings, examining the Exalted that had joined the caravan.

The image of two men and a woman dressed in light blue robes bubbled up in her mind. Their heads were shaved and their robes were embroidered with cloud motifs. The men carried sheathed swords, while the woman wasn’t armed.

Cloud Monastery? Yuzu’s eyebrows knit together in concern as she recognized their outfits. What are they doing here?

After a few moments the caravan rounded the corner. A number of people were carrying tall poles from the tops of which long white streamers hung freely, blowing in the wind. Various phrases were written down the streamers in elegant brush script, most of them were either praise towards the White Maiden or prayers to receive her blessings.

“There they are.” Xiang said, pointing out the caravan long after Yuzu had noticed them.

The caravan had grown in size. Yuzu counted two more horse drawn carts and quite a few more people walking alongside in the procession. Many of them had a thin white bandana tied around their forehead or upper arm. Yuzu assumed that this unusual fashion was some sort of symbol that the people had come up with to show their devoutness toward the White Maiden.

Yuzu couldn’t help but feel touched by the faith of these people toward her. Quietly she resolved to help as many of them as she could.

And I don’t need to be ‘friendly’ to do it. Yuzu grumbled somewhat spitefully to herself.

The charismatic Tua Kong who had first invited them to the caravan was out in front, calling out praises to the White Maiden and welcoming people onto the caravan.

Following just behind him were the three cloud peak monks with silver strings. They had friendly looks on their faces and moved with graceful reverence expected of monks. Yet Yuzu sensed a veiled guardedness in their movements.

“This must be the doing of the Abbott… Even though I rejected his offer of support yesterday, he still decided to go ahead with it?” Yuzu muttered inwardly to herself, “Sending these monks to ‘help’ with the shrine… I doubt that he has good intentions. More likely, he’s trying to keep an eye on me and look for a weakness.”

Although there was a chance that the Abbott might be genuinely trying to get in her good graces, Yuzu found it far more likely that this new involvement of the Cloud Peak monks was less than friendly. After all, Yuzu had pretty clearly rejected the Abbott’s offer of assistance during the party and accused him of murder.

“Ah, brother!” Tua Kong spotted Xiang’s large form from far off as they approached, and enthusiastically walked up to greet them, “You came after all. I had a good feeling about you. And who is this?”

He smiled warmly as he looked at the sleeping girl on Xiang’s shoulder, nodding in understanding after seeing Rabbit’s condition, “Ah, I see. Another child in need of the Maiden’s blessings.”

“Here is the payment for the girls.” Xiang said, handing over a few coins.

“Thank you, brother. Please, find a seat for yourselves on the carts.” Tua Kong smiled and bowed, then gestured to the carts. He paused a moment before adding, “You said you were coming to help us? We have a number of supplies to load up before we go…”

“I’ll be happy to help.” Xiang nodded with a smile.

Xiang accompanied Yuzu and Rabbit to a cart before taking off to assist with the preparations. In addition to the carts carrying passengers Yuzu saw a number of horse drawn wagons that were full with construction materials, fabric, food and water. The caravan had grown to quite a decent size, with about forty or so passengers and half that number again in workers.

Yuzu found herself in quite a crowded cart. The people around her were all quiet, dressed in long sleeves and cloaks. Many of them looked ill, with reddish bumps on their skin. This was a cart full of people who were suffering from the disease. The caravan organizers were clearly separating out people who were ill, something that Yuzu confirmed quite easily by activating her spiritual vision.

Yuzu’s white string shone brilliantly among a sea of black encrusted threads, while at the front of the caravan were carts full of healthy golden strings.

“Sharky-“ Rabbit said softly, leaning heavily against Yuzu’s shoulder, her eyelids heavy and speech slurred, “Where-?”

“We’re going to help you feel better.” Yuzu said, patting Rabbit’s head gently. She smoothed out her skirt and patted it, “Come, lie down on my lap.”

“I’m hot… My skin is itchy…“ The young girl lay down on Yuzu’s lap as Yuzu gently held her.

Fever and confusion were the most common side effects of the Devil Eye infection. None of the passengers around them had progressed far enough to start sprouting vines, but Yuzu could tell that some of them were close.

In her ears, the illusory sound of prayers echoed around her as they prayed to the maiden even before reaching the shrine.

Yuzu caressed the girl’s head, awkwardly at first, combing the girl’s sweat matted hair away from her face, “You’ll feel better soon. We’ll go see the maiden and you’ll be fine.”

After a while Yuzu heard shouting and the caravan began to move. She settled into her seat with a sigh. Her life had become complicated so quickly. The duties of the White Maiden, the Cloud Monastery monks, the scheme to revive the God of Life. And now the disappearance of her brother.

Up to this point she’d just been playing a passive role as she tried to keep up with the changes in the world around her. Lack of knowledge meant she’d needed to be cautious. Lack of resources meant she needed to rely on others. Lack of influence meant she needed to walk a tightrope to avoid offending the powers around her.

“This isn’t working.” Yuzu muttered to herself, her eyes hardening as she looked out at the caravan, “Something has to change.”

Although heading to the shrine had been Xiang’s idea, in a way this was the most favourable circumstance for Yuzu. The shrine was a focal point for her powers of Fate. Going there would enable her to harness the power from her follower’s prayers.

Thinking about it, from her experiences and with Argus and Medusa on her side she was now far more knowledgeable about the Exalted world. The support of Lord Noga and Earl Shum meant that she now had resources. With the followers that she gained and her growing control over the Domain of Fate, her influence over the region was beginning to blossom.

Yuzu nodded ever so slightly as she came to a single, simple conclusion.

“I need to make a move.”